Tell Me My Name Read Online Free PDF Page B

remain ever watchful, the Divinity forbids them
from interfering with our lives in the Terrestrial Realm. For She
loves us, the children She created at the dawn of time, and wants
us to have the freedom to dictate our own destinies.
    I recall the story of how Her wicked
brother, the Fiend, tried to destroy the Terrestrial dwellers – our
ancestors – shortly after their creation, and how She and Her ayri
fought fiercely to defend us, until finally She cast him into the
Firelands – a great cage in the Infernal Realm, from which there is
no escape.
    But I don’t know who told me these
things, or where I learned them.
    I stare at the star
outside, and the knowledge of what it is and what it means sits
firmly in my head … yet isn’t held there by a single memory of my
own. How can that be? Then I concentrate hard on what I do know, hoping it’ll
lead to something more, even if it’s just a glimpse of my
past.
    But an abrupt, searing blaze flares
through my skull, and I scream in agony. A hundred red-hot knives
cut through me, ripping with such intensity that I would cut off my
own head to end the torment. I press my face into the ice, willing
to do anything to make the pain stop, and push so hard into the
rough surface that I feel as if I’m crushing my skull to powder.
But there’s no relief from the scorching flames, not even in the
frigidness of the wall, and I’m sure the fire will incinerate me.
The heat pierces through me in sharp blasts, like someone is firing
a volley of infernal arrows, and the air shakes from the cries I
have no power to hold back. I slam my forehead into the wall, but
the impact hardly registers through the raging, intolerable blaze.
No matter what I do, there is only pain, pain, pain.
    Then, suddenly, it disappears. I gasp,
my forehead still against the cold wall, and my head throbs from
the pressure. Every bone has become as heavy as stone, and I sink
to the ground. Expecting to find ashes where my hair was, I pat the
back of my head, but everything seems fine – on the outside, at
least. Inside, I feel like the life has once again been sapped from
me, with much of it destroyed in the cursed inferno … just as it
was when the magician threw his spell at me.
    Is he behind this? Did he place some
kind of curse on me that would torture me even in his absence? Why
would he do that? What does he want from me? This is the third time
I’ve felt the great heat of a curse overtake me – the first was
when I tried to remember my name. What caused it to take effect
like that? Did I do something to set it off?
    Then, it hits me: I was trying to
remember something then, and I was trying to remember something
just now. Could that be the answer? Is the curse meant to keep me
from recovering any memories? But why?
    What can I do? I haven’t the strength
to break through these walls. And I dare not search my mind for
memories again. I can’t stand the thought of facing that pain once
more, not when it drove me mad enough to dash my head against the
wall this time. And it was all for nothing – I haven’t unearthed a
single hint about my past. If I could, maybe I would uncover some
clue that would help me escape – a skill I’ve forgotten I have. A
piece of information the magician would find valuable enough to
trade for my freedom. Or the name of an ally I could call upon for
help.
    But no matter which way I turn, I see
only darkness. It’s impossible.
    Hopeless.
    I wrap the cloak closer around myself
and bury my face in my knees.
     

 
     
     
    Chimes ring in a cascading melody, but only a black expanse lies
before me. I follow the sound, hoping to find their source. Silver
mist rolls toward me in the distance, and I know it must conceal
something important, though what that thing is, I can’t begin to
guess. Something within me – maybe my heart, maybe my soul – urges
me toward it, and I listen.
    The chimes grow louder,
yet their tinkling song remains gentle, like the voice of a